Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that results in a loss of function such as mobility or feeling. Frequent causes of damage are trauma (car accidents, gunshots, falls, etc.) or disease (polio, spina bifida, Friedreich’s Ataxia, etc.). The spinal cord does not have to be severed in order for a loss of functioning to occur. In fact, in most people with Spinal Cord Injury, the spinal cord is intact, but the damage to it results in loss of functioning. Almost 11,000 people in the U.S. sustain a traumatic spinal cord injury each year, resulting in temporary or permanent sensory deficit, motor deficit, or bowel or bladder dysfunction. In this country, nearly 200,000 people live with paralysis caused by Spinal Cord Injury. More than half the people who sustain an Spinal Cord Injury are between 16 and 30 years old. More males than females sustain this type of injury – the ratio is more than four to one. The most common cause of Spinal Cord Injury is motor vehicle crashes, accounting for at least 36 percent of these injuries (broken down as follows: no restraints used, 20%; restraints used, 13.7%; motorcycle, 7.4%; accidents involving pedestrians, 5.2%; other, 2.1%). Violence-related Spinal Cord Injurys have been steadily increasing over the past two decades, and today, violence is associated with 29 percent of Spinal Cord Injuries. Falls and sports cause 21 percent and 7 percent of Spinal Cord Injury cases, respectively.

On August 5, 2002, a Berks County, Pennsylvania jury awarded an infant and his parents $2,289,856.00 against the Reading Hospital and Medical Center and Fredericka Heller, M.D., in a medical malpractice case involving issues surrounding the labor and delivery of Bailey Boyer on May 8, 1998. During the course of the delivery, Bailey developed shoulder dystocia, a condition in which the baby’s shoulder becomes lodged against the mother’s pelvis after the head has already been delivered.

The issues at trial concerned Dr. Heller’s efforts to dislodge the shoulder, as well as those of the nursing staff in attendance. Plaintiffs alleged at trial that Dr. Heller used improper techniques and excessive traction in attempting to dislodge the shoulder. As a result, several of the major nerves of the brachial plexus were torn from Bailey’s spinal cord, leaving him with severe and permanent limitations in the use of his right arm and hand.

The defendants denied responsibility and claimed that standard and accepted procedures were followed in the management and care of Bailey’s shoulder dystocia.

Bailey subsequently underwent three surgical procedures at Texas Christian Hospital in Houston, Texas, in an effort to restore some function to Bailey’s arm and hand. The plaintiffs proved at trial that the severity and permanency of Bailey’s brachial plexus injury would require him to undergo additional surgical procedures in the future as well as extensive physical rehabilitation and therapy. The plaintiffs also established at trial that Bailey had suffered a significant lifetime loss of earning capacity, as a result of the permanent physical limitations associated with Bailey’s brachial plexus injury,

Central to the plaintiffs’ allegations was the fact that the actions allegedly taken by Dr. Heller and the nursing staff to dislodge the shoulder were not documented in the hospital records. Plaintiffs established at trial that Bailey had been turned 180 degrees after the shoulder had impacted but before any of the standard maneuvers had been performed. Plaintiffs contended that the avulsion or tearing of Bailey’s spinal cord nerves occurred during the course of this 180 degree turn and was the result of excessive traction applied to the baby’s head.

The jury found that both defendants were negligent in the labor and delivery of Bailey and apportioned liability evenly – 50% against defendant, Reading Hospital and Medical Center and 50% against defendant, Fredericka Heller, M.D.

In one of the largest personal-injury awards in Palm Beach County history, a jury on Friday demanded that Nicholas Copertino pay $ 29.2 million to an 18-year-old and her mother for his role in a West Boca car crash that rendered the teen a quadriplegic.

The award to Maribel Farinas and her mother, Margarita Farinas, could have been even higher had they sought punitive damages, but their attorney told jurors the Farinas did not want to appear bent on exacting revenge for the 1996 disaster in which five teenagers were killed.

The jury of four men and two women returned a verdict in compensatory damages that fell well below the $ 40.7 million sought by the Farinas family, but nearly double the maximum penalty suggested by Copertino’s defense.

“It was good, it was fair,” said Maribel Farinas outside the courtroom, dressed in a black jacket and pants that matched the color of her motorized
wheelchair.

“Nothing will bring my friends back, and nothing will make me walk again, but this will make me happier. It will give me a better life.”

Copertino, now 23, lost control of his Honda Civic in February 1996 at 85 mph on Palmetto Park Road with seven teens, ages 13 to 15, crammed in the back seat. The vehicle flew over a median and slammed into an oncoming car, killing five teens and injuring Farinas and another girl. Three women in the other vehicle also were injured.

The same jury ruled last week that Copertino’s driving was reckless. That set the stage for the penalty phase of the civil trial. Jurors will return on Monday to consider damages for the families of four of the teens who were killed, and for the other survivor. That second victim, Emily Slosberg, didn’t suffer injuries as severe as Farinas’, but she lost her twin
sister, Dori, in the crash.

It remains unclear, though, whether Farinas or any crash victims’ relatives will ever see any money because Copertino’s auto insurance company has denied liability and Copertino has no assets. A lawsuit filed against the company, Florida Farm Insurance, by Farinas and survivors is scheduled to come to trial next year.

Copertino is serving a 15-year sentence for five manslaughter convictions related to the crash. Both sides of the case acknowledged in closing arguments the egregious behavior of Copertino in causing the accident. Defense attorney Robert Moses, calling Copertino’s acts foolish and reckless, didn’t even try to elicit sympathy for his client, the clean-cut man who sat somber and quiet in a crisp white Oxford shirt and green slacks.

Instead, the two sides debated how to calculate the monetary value of the pleasures of life that Farinas has been denied. Farinas attorney Gary Sherman reminded jurors that the girl will never walk, swim, dance or hug her mother again, and both sides acknowledged she will be unemployable for her entire life thanks to her spinal injury.

Yet Moses suggested to the jury that while Farinas’ condition is grave and tragic, the teen could improve it herself by obtaining her GED and partaking in therapies intended to make her slightly more capable of simple tasks like brushing her teeth and feeding herself.

“Maribel’s most precious asset was not affected in this disaster: Her brain,” Moses said. “This is a woman who is vibrant. … This is a person who can become involved in life.”

Moses suggested she receive as much as $ 100,000 per year for the rest of her life, estimating she might live another 50 years. Sherman demanded $ 500,000 per year, and suggested she could live as many as 63 years. The jury awarded $ 12 million for that portion, or $ 200,000 per year for 60 years.

The two sides also disputed the cost of Farinas’ future medical costs. Sherman asked for $ 10 million, a middle ground between two estimates offered by witnesses. Moses, arguing that the lower estimate was wildly exaggerated in several places, pleaded for a maximum bill of $ 6 million.

But the jurors ruled Copertino liable to pay $ 11.5 million for future medical expenses.

The two sides had agreed to much of the rest of the judgment before the jury deliberated. They settled on $ 1.5 million in past medical bills, $ 749,000 for what Farinas might have earned in wages through her lifetime and $ 42,000 for wages lost by Margarita Farinas since the crash. Maribel Farinas praised her attorney and said she resented Moses’ courtroom commentary on whether she’s contributed enough to her own rehabilitation.

“He has no idea what I’ve been through,” she said.

The award is among the largest personal-injury judgments in Palm Beach County history, although it doesn’t come close to a $ 79.6 million award a jury gave in January to a 9-year-old girl with cerebral palsy. HMO giant Humana was found liable in that case for cutting off special-care coverage. Further judgments against Copertino for other crash victims and their relatives also are likely to run in the millions.

The information available on this website is general and does not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. No information contained in here should be constructed as legal advice and should not be a substitute for legal counsel. more information

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